Chewing Gum Doesn't Lead to Weight Loss, Study Suggests

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Contrary to popular diet advice, chewing gum may not help people
eat less or lose weight, new research suggests.

In fact, the study, published in the April issue of the journal
Eating Behaviors, suggests that chewing gum may lead people to
eat chips, cookies and candy instead of fruits and veggies.
That's because menthol, the chemical responsible for the
minty-fresh flavor of some types of gum makes fruits and veggies
taste funny.

The chemical change is the same reason why "when you brush your
teeth and then drink orange juice, it tastes bad," said study
co-author Christine Swoboda, a doctoral candidate in nutrition at
Ohio State University.

And because it may evoke thoughts of food and get digestive
juices flowing, some people hypothesized that chewing gum could
make people hungrier. But scientists have also hypothesized the
opposite — that the act of chewing could make people feel more
full and, in turn, eat less. To test that claim, the gum
manufacturer Wrigley even offers grants for scientific research
on the subject. [ The
7 Biggest Diet Myths Debunked ]

But despite claims to the contrary, only a few studies have
looked at whether
chewing gum aids weight loss, and these have found
conflicting results, Swoboda said.

"We were interested in seeing 'Does this really help with weight
loss?'" Swoboda told LiveScience.

Bad taste

To find out, Swoboda and colleague Jennifer Temple of the
University at Buffalo asked 44 volunteers to play a
slotmachine-style game in exchange for food. Some of the
participants played for mandarin oranges or grapes, while others
played for potato chips or M&Ms.

Prior to playing the game, half of the participants chewed either
Juicy Fruit gum or Wrigley's Spearmint gum.

Those who chewed the minty gum were significantly less likely to
play as long for the fruit, suggesting they were
less motivated to get them when chewing gum. The fruity gum
showed a smaller effect that wasn't statistically significant.

In a second experiment, the researchers asked participants to
keep a food journal recording what they ate. Some of the time,
the participants were asked to chew a mint green-tea gum before
every meal and snack for a week, while other times, they simply
had to record their food intake.

When
chewing gum, participants ate fewer meals. But that didn't
translate into fewer calories: Instead, people were actually
getting fewer nutrients in their diet and about the same amount
of calories.

It could be that the menthol in mint, which interacts with
nutrients in fruits and veggies to create a bitter flavor, was
turning people off to the healthy foods, Swoboda said.

People "ate less fruits and vegetables, because in their head,
they thought 'I have to chew gum before every meal — do I really
want a snack of grapefruit?'" she said. "Whereas, they were like,
'I'm so hungry I'm going to eat this double cheeseburger and it
will taste the same.'"

Long-term effect?

The findings are interesting, but they don't reveal how gum might
change people's eating habits in the long run, said Brett Carter,
a food behavior researcher at the University of Washington in
Seattle, who was not involved in the study.